…says Vijay Karia, Chairman of ELECRAMA, and Managing Director at Ravin Group of Companies.

The much-awaited event for electrical & electronics (E&E) industry, Elecrama 2018, is few days away. How is IEEMA preparing for the event?

There have been 12 editions of ELECRAMA prior to this one. And each of them has been slightly better than the previous one. ELECRAMA, over the years has been a torchbearer of the electrical industry in India, and is today the largest electrical exhibition in the world. From the first edition in 1990, IEEMA’s prestigious flagship event for decades has witnessed changes of the industry very closely. In one way or another ELECRAMA has always stayed relevant to the industry, to its needs and the challenges being faced.

ELECRAMA 2018 this time will undergo a complete digital transformation and will be full of surprises for all the visitors, exhibitors and stakeholders. The mega event will have more than 1100 exhibitors showcasing their products & services and visitors from more than 100 countries will be participating in it. Most important, visitor footfalls anticipated are more than 250,000. The five day event will have various pavilions of interest. There will be a power pavilion, railway pavilion and E-Tech Next to showcase the technology of tomorrow.

This time ELECRAMA focuses on the paradigm shift from the earlier T&D in electricity space to the focus on electric vehicles (EVs), Internet of Things (IoT), storage solutions and renewable energy.

What will be the highlights of this year’s show?

The word energy is now changing to electricity and is seeing some exciting developments to look forward to. Therefore, ELECRAMA 2018 focuses on the new areas of electricity. To understand and see what kind of infrastructure is needed & to support this commitment Indian government has promised to reduce carbon footprint, pollution and not to increase costs per unit to make consumption of electricity cost efficient, we are trying our best to bring everything possible at one platform.

As per the "Vision 2022 for the Indian Electric Machinery Equipment Industry", the industry aims to become $ 100 billion sector. Are we on track? What are the challenges on the way?

India is firmly set on a path of economic growth that is estimated to usher in prosperity like never before. This economic prosperity will need to be built on the back of significant transformations across several facilitating elements, the primary ones being infrastructure build-out, energy availability and sustainability.

Government’s Make in India program has placed India on the world map as a manufacturing hub and give global recognition to the Indian economy. India is expected to become the fifth largest manufacturing country in the world by the end of year 2020. The Government of India has set an ambitious target of increasing the contribution of manufacturing output to 25% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2025, from 16 per cent currently. India’s manufacturing sector has the potential to touch $ 1 trillion by 2025. There is potential for the sector to account for 25-30% of the country’s GDP and create up to 90 million domestic jobs by 2025.

What is the growth outlook for this industry?

Under the able guidance of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and complemented with a visionary Ministry of Power, the Indian power sector is going to shift into top gear aiming at electricity for all. This is major opportunities for each one of us as a responsible entity in India to contribute to the outlook. Government is supporting in form of various schemes but utilities need to be careful in planning and quick deployment of the meters. Meticulous execution may be achieved by choosing the right technology partner without myopic vision which can surely yield the desired results.

India’s energy outlook will continue to remain promising, pushing boundaries to connect the whole of India to affordable electricity and cleaner energy system. I have confidence that locally, the industry is capable of supporting, delivering the product and services for this cause.